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AN ORATION 




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ON THE 






LIFE AND CHARACTER 



of 



ZACHARY TAYLOR,! 



LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 



DELIVERED IN CINCINNATI, 



AT THE FUNlilRAL SGLEMNITiES IN HONOR OF THE DECEASED, AUG. 1, 1850. 



BY JOHN L. MINER. 



WITH AN APPENDIX, 

?^ CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDIGNS OF THE CITIZENS IN PUBLIC MEETING, 

AND OTHER MATTERS. 




-y CINCINNATI: 

PUBLISHED BY J. F. DESILVER, MAIN STREET. 



1850. 



,EBMi\fJl\l\1 



Ji^. 



AN ORATION 



ON THE 



LIFE MD CHARACTER 

OF 

ZACHARY TAYLOR, 

LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
DELIVERED IN CINCINNATI, 

AT THE FUNERAL SOLEMNITES IN HONOR OF THE DECEASED, AUGUST 1, 1850. 



BY JOHN L. MINEE. 

't 

WITH AN APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDIGNS OF THE CITIZENS IN PUBLIC MEETING, 
AND OTHER MATTERS. 



S CINCINNATI: {^. 
PUBLISHED BY J. F. DESILVER, MAIN STREET. 

1850. 



■fAcc 



Printed by Wright, Ferris, & Co., Cincinnati Gazette office. 



ORATION, 



A second time, my friends, within a period of less than ten 
years, we are assembled within this house of God, sorrowing 
for the loss of the Chief Executive Magistrate of the nation. 
On the 14th of May, 1841, we met here to mingle our tears 
and give expression to our great regret for the death of the 
President of the United States — our own beloved and venerated 
friend and neighbor, William Henry Harrison. The Almighty, 
in his inscrutable Providence, has stricken down by death, from 
the same exalted office, one equally illustrious, on account of 
his public services, and especially beloved and revered for the 
rarest combination of great virtues — ZACHARY TAYLOR, 
the Chief Magistrate, the chosen head of this great nation, has 
"gone to his long home," and all the people mourn, mourn 
the hero, mourn the magistrate, mourn the man. Harrison 
and Taylor — these two of all the Presidents, and these within, 
comparitively, a very short period of each other, died in 
office — the one, as it were, on the very threshold, the other in 
the beginning, of their administrative career — died, when hopes 
of wise guidance and greatest good from them were strono-est 
and brightest — died, " when our need was the sorest." 

Our minds go back to the times when these two distin- 
guished men were last, and for the last time, in our midst ; the 
times immediately preceeding the periods of their inaugura- 
tion into that high office, to which they had been chosen by 
the suffrages of a majority of their fellow citizens, by reason 
of services rendered, and qualities possessed by them, in many 
respects of striking similarity. 



How vivid in the recollections of each of us these occasions 
are. The vast concourse, the general joy, the fervent good 
wishes, which attended the Farmer of North Bend to the busy- 
quay of yonder beautiful river, on his way to the White 
House, in the Capital of the nation. The hushed silence, 
the heaving bosoms, the riveted attention of the mighty throng 
upon the shore, when, from the upper deck of the majestic 
vessel, with head bared, and eyes streaming, he took solemn 
and affectino; leave of his friends for the last time, remindine: 
them, as it were prophetically, that they might see his face no 
more ; and for which words (as in that most tender and pathetic 
of all leave-takings between the great apostle of the Gentiles 
and his bretheren at Ephesus,) they sorrowed most of all. — 
And again, more recently, when he whose untimely death we 
now mourn, and whose great deeds and exalted character we, 
by these solemn services, aim to commemorate, came and 
went, the city's guest — the great chieftain, fresh from the 
fields of his glory, the hero of many battles, the chosen Chief 
Magistrate — on his triumphal course to the same capital. But 
it was not the hero and the magistrate alone that the people 
honored in General Taylor. There was something beside and 
beyond these that bound them to him, as with an electric 
chain, that thrilled from heart to heart ; the highest attributes of 
humanity warmed and animated his soul, the image and 
impress of the Creator were stamped upon him, inspiring all 
hearts with absolute and unqualified trust in him, in so far as 
finite man can be trusted, and with that love and veneration 
which none but the truly great and good can call forth. 

Time passes on. We see him assume the helm of state 
amid signs of coming tempest. In the South, in the North, 
clouds rise, and spread, and thicken. " Thro' all the bur- 
dened air" threatening and discordant sounds are heard. Men, 



5 

" Drest in a little brief authority, 
Most ignorant of what they're most assured," 

have turned their faces to behold madness and folly, and would 
rend and destroy that which, to every true hearted and right 
minded American, is greatest and dearest, highest and holiest, 
of all things else embraced in the comprehensive words, Our 
Country, — The UNION. — The hearts of good men and pa- 
triots are failing them for fear. But our helmsman is not dis- 
mayed. We behold him now, as upon all former occasions, 
" amid gathering storm and rocking battlement," calm and 
serene as heavenly light, and firm as the everlasting hills, — the 
one greatest hope of the people for the deliverance of the country 
from the selfishness, and madness, and folly that assailed it, 
impressing the thoughtful more aud more, day by day, that 
God separated him from all the people, and raised him up to 
his high position at this critical and threatening juncture, to 
be the Saviour of his Country. " There are those of us," 
says Mr. Winthrop, in his touching and eloquent address in 
the House of Eepresentatives, "who had looked to him with 
affection and reverence as our chosen leader and guide in the 
difficulties and perplexities by which we are surrounded. — 
There are those of us who had relied confidently on him, as 
upon no other man, to uphold the Constitution and maintain 
the Union of the Country in that future, upon which "clouds 
and darkness " may well be said to rest. And, as we now 
behold him borne away by the hand of God from our sight, 
in the very hour of peril, we can hardly repress the exclama- 
tion which was applied to the departing prophet of old : " My 
father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horser in 
thereof." 

These hopes, alas! how suddenly cast off. ZACHARY 
TAYLOR, the President, whilst at his post, in the discharge 



6 

of the duties of his high ojfRce, is seized with a malignant 
disease ; lightenings, with more than the speed of wings, 
convey the sad intelligence through the land. All who hear 
it are arrested by it, and painfully anxious about the result ; 
the merchant in his counting-house, the lawyer in his office, 
the mechanic in his shop, the farmer in his field, the laborer 
at his toil — for all know him and all love him. From hour 
to hour the rapid progress of the fatal disease is marked, and 
the bulletins of the attending physician flash along the wires ; 
alternating hope and fear take possession of all hearts — a little 
while he is quiet — he sleeps — hope revives ; yet a little while 
— he is dead ! The hero, the President, the great, the good, 
is gone, and forever. All, with hearts too full for words, look 
into each other's faces and weep. Great is our cause of woe. 
Zachary Taylor was descended from a distinguished Eng- 
lish family, which emigrated to America, and settled in the 
eastern part of the Colony of Virginia, in the year 1692. His 
father was a Colonel in the war of the Rev^oiution, from its 
commencement to its close, served much of the time with 
Washington himself, and shared largely the confidence and 
esteem of that great and good man. He was engaged in many 
of the most fiercely contested battles, and particularly distin- 
guished himself at Trenton. He emigrated to Kentucky in 
1790, and settled in Jefferson county when that Territoy was 
the scene of frequent, fierce and bloody conflicts between the 
Indians who inhabited it, and the emigrant settlers, in which 
scenes Col. Taylor bore a conspicuous part. He was one of 
the framers of the Constitution of Kentucky, and held many 
other honorable and responsible offices. 

Zachary Taylor was born in Orange county, Virginia, 
on the 2d of November, 1784, and was about six years old 
when his father removed to Kentucky. His youth was spent 



and the rudiments of his character formed amid "the difficult- 
ies and dangers of Indian warfare, and the hardships and 
privations ever incident to frontier life." We are informed 
that his boyhood was marked " by indications of that straight- 
forward, manly independence of character, inflexibility of 
purpose, kindness of heart, frank and open disposition, fore- 
sight, decision, and energy ; modest and retiring demeanor, 
and thoughtful, inquiring mind," which so adorned and dis- 
tinguished his subsequent life. 

From his earliest youth, feats of boldness and dangerous 
enterprises, such as would now-a-days appal the stoutest heart, 
were part and parcel of his daily life. Whatever he attempted 
he always accomplished — however arduous, or difficult, or 
dangerous it might be. His opportunities for education, du- 
ring his boyhood, were, of course, meager and imperfect, but 
he made the most of them ; and his ever active and inquiring 
mind, his great love of learning, his remarkably strong and 
retentive memory, his indomitable will and great firmness of 
purpose, his industry and vigor of constitution, enabled him, in 
after life, fully to repair all the deficiencies of youth in this 
respect. Though not versed in all the learning of the schools, 
he was rich in the knowledge that makes one truly wise. 

As was natural to expect, from the example of his father, 
the still vivid impressions of the heroic struggles and glorious 
consummation of the American Revolution, and the stirring 
and warlike scenes of his youth, young Taylor early evinced 
a predeliction for military life- He remained with his family 
in Kentucky until the year 1808, when the repeated aggres- 
sions of Great Britain, and the prospect of another war with 
that country, fired his zeal and decided his pursuit in life. — 
He applied to Mr. Jefferson for a commission in the army, 
and on the 3d of March, 1808, received a commission as first 



8 

Lieutenant in the Seventh Regiment of United States Infant- 
ry. From the first he devoted himself to the study of the 
profession he had chosen with that determined resolution, 
untiring industry and perseverance, which give assurance, in 
any undertaking, of complete success. In the beginning of 
the year 1812, Lieutenant Taylor was promoted to the rank 
of Captain, by President Madison, and placed in command of 
Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, in Indiana, about fifty miles 
a])ove Vincennes ; a rude and weak stockade, almost in the 
very midst of the enemy's country, and surrounded on all sides 
by a wild and savage foe, and garrisoned by fifty soldiers. — 
Here, on the night of the 5th of September, 1812, and the 
morning succeeding, was performed his first great deed in 
arms ; and when carefully surveyed, in view of all the circum- 
stances, it must be considered almost as remarkable and bril- 
liant an achievement as any in his most brilliant military 
career. At the dead hour of night, with more than thirty-five 
of his fifty soldiers entirely disabled by sickness, and the resi- 
due, with their youthful commander, exhausted by labor and 
watching, encumbered with a number of helpless women and 
children, one of the block-houses, connected with the fort and 
forming part of the fortifications, is discov^ered to be on fire, 
and the fort surrounded and attacked by 450 Indians. A 
fearful element, and as fearful a savage foe combined, threaten 
instant and terrible destruction. The men are dismayed, and 
sink down in utter helplesness — the shrieks and cries of the 
v 3men and children, mingled with the terriific war-whoop 
and the noise of battle and fire, increase the terror of the 
scene, and add another pang to despair. Giving up all for 
lost, and acting from that blind instinct of self-preservation, 
which sometimes takes entire possession of the soul when death 
seems imminent and inevitable, two of the stoutest men jumped 



the pickets and fled. We can hardly believe, nay, we can hardly 
conceive it possible, that less than superhuman power could be 
calm and collected in such a scene as this, and think coolly, 
act wisely, inspire confidence, nerve the hands and hearts 
paralyzed with fear, stay the fire, repel the enemy, and pre- 
serve the lives of these affrighted, and sick, and helpless ; yet 
all this was done by that youthful Captain, who never before 
had fought a sinsrle battle. 

" As the burning block-house," says he in his official report 
to General Harrison, "adjoined the barracks that made part 
of the fortifications, most of the men immediately gave them- 
selves up for lost, and I had the greatest difficulty in getting 
my orders executed. And, sir, what from the raging tire, the 
yelling and howling of several hundred Indians, the cries of 
nine women and children, the desponding of so many men — 
which was worst of all— I can assure you my feelings were very 
unpleasant ; and, indeed, there were not more than ten or fifteen 
men able to do anything at all, the others being sick or convales- 
cent ; and to add to our other misfortunes, two of our stoutest 
men jumped the pickets and left. But my presence of mind did 
not for a moment forsake me. I saw that by throwing off part 
of the roof that joined the block-house that was on tire, and 
keeping the end perfectly wet, the whole row of buildings 
might be saved, and leave only an entrance of eighteen or 
twenty feet for the Indians to enter, after the house was con- 
sumed ; and that a temporary breastwork might be formed to 
prevent their entering even there, i convinced the men that 
this could be done, and it appeared to inspire them with new 
life ; and never did men act with more firmness and despera- 
tion." 

His presence of mind never for a moment forsook him; but 
greatly quickened by the terrible exigency, he saw, as it were, 



10 

by intuition, what could alone be done to meet it, reassured 
his helpless and despairing men, inspired them with his own 
courage and hope, and it was done. 

For his distinguished servaces in the defence of Fort Har- 
rison, Captain Taylor was promoted to the rank of brevet 
Major. From the close of the war until 1832, he was sta- 
tioned at various posts in the West and South, as the exigences 
of the service required, ever active and faithful in the discharge 
of his duties. In 1819 he was further promoted to the rank 
of Lieutenant Colonel, and in 1832, upon the breaking out of 
the Black Hawk war, he was commissioned as Colonel, and 
assigned the command of the regular troops, and endured all 
the hardships and privations of that vexatious war. In the 
fiercely contested and destructive engagement at the Bad Axe, 
which resulted in the capture of Black Hawk and the Prophet, 
and bringin-^i; the war to a close, he greatly distinguished 
himself. 

In 1836 Col. Taylor was ordered to Florida, then the the- 
atre of a most expensive and disastrous war with the Seminole 
Indians, and placed in command of a separate column. At 
the time he received this order he was on furlough, but cheer, 
fully relinquished it to obey the call of his country. It was 
part of the tactics of the wily savages in this war to avoid a 
general engagement ; finally, however, after incredible toil, pri- 
vation, and suffering, for want of proper subsistance, and by 
long marches in the wilderness, through swamps and ever-glades 
the army under Taylor met and conquored the enemy in the 
severe and bloody battle of Okee-chokee — a battle desperately 
fought on both sides and hardly won, after great losses. The 
agency and influence of Col. Taylor in this terrible conflict 
has been thus described : 



11 

" Col. Taylor was everywhere to be found in the thickest 
of the fiwht, where the balls flew fastest and the danger was 
greatest, encouraging and urging on his men. Nothing could 
resist his onsets. His coolness and presence of mind reani- 
mated those whose power of endurance had begun to fail, and 
gave new ardor to others. His presence insi'ired all with 
confidence, and gave assurance of victory." 

For his distinguished services in Florida he was promoted 
to the rank of Brigadier General. In 1840 he took command 
of the first department of the South Western Division of the 
Army, his head-quarters being at Fort Gibson, in Arkansas, 
where, and at Fort Jessup, in Louisana, he remained until 
1845, when he was ordered to the Texan frontier. I need not 
enlarge upon his subsequent transcendantly brilliant and suc- 
cessful military career. It is written in the hearts of his 
countrymen. The fame of it has gone out into all the world. 
No language can adequately express the conceptions of it as 
they exist in our minds. His previous achievments I have 
touched upon with more particularity, because they were per- 
formed on less attractive fields, in campaigns against a savage 
foe, and were therefore less familiar, and because, when viewed 
more carefully, they enable us the better to understand his 
subsequent, wonderful and almost miraculous success. 

Military men — the officers and soldiers under him, knew 
when he entered the Valley of Rio Grande, \\ hat the people 
generally did not then know, that he was a great Captain, 
perfectly master of his profession, and capable of applying all 
his knowledge and exerting all his faculties in any emergency 
— the more wonderfully and successfully, the greater the 
emergency. Therefore they trusted in him ; and under his 
orders and in his presence were able to do what they could 
not have done under a commander they did not know, how- 



12 

ever cool and brave and skilful he might have been. This 
trust, this faith in the commanding General, achieved the 
victories in the three great battles of Palo Alto, Reseca de la 
Palma, and Buena Vista. Without this, in my judgment, 
neither of those fields could, under the circumstances, have 
been won. 

In August, 1845, General Taylor, with the forces under 
him, styled the Army of Occupation, encamped at Corpus 
Christi, in Texas. On the 8th of March, 1846, under orders 
from the President of the United States, he broke up his 
camp there, and commenced his line of march for the Rio 
Grande, and on the 28th of March encamped, with the forces 
under his command, on the left bank of that river, opposite 
Matamoras. On the 8th of May succeeding he met the 
Mexicans, six thousand strong, with less than two thousand, 
and won the battle of Palo Alto ; on the day succeeding, 9th 
of May, he again met the 3Iexicans, 7000 strong, with 1700, 
and won the battle of Resaca de la Palma. The Mexican 
forces, in both these battles, were composed of veteran sol- 
diers, and commanded by able and experienced officers. They 
choose their own ground, were admirably equiped, and entered 
the contest sure of victory. On the 29th of June, succeeding 
these battles, General Taylor was promoted to the rank of 
Major General. As soon as proper transport could be provided 
he marched upon Monterey, to which the enemy had fallen 
back and strongly fortified. On the 19th of September, 1846, 
he arrived before that city, which capitulated to him on the 
24th of September, after three days of desperate fighting ; and 
on the 22d and 23d of February, 1847, with 5000 men, only 
500 of whom were regulars, he beat an army of 21,000 Mexi- 
cans, commanded by Santa Anna, the most renowned General 
in Mexico, in the memorable battle of Buena Vista. This 



13 

was his last battle. During bis military career he was en- 
gaged in seven memorable battles, in each of which he was 
the most distinguished leader and actor, and in all, though 
with fearful odds against him, came off conqueror. In No- 
vember, 1847, he, by permission, left the Army in Mexico 
and returned to the United States. In June, 1848, he was 
nominated for President by the Whig Convention, assembled 
in Philadelphia ; elected President in November; inaugurated 
5th of March, 1849, and filled that high office one year and 
four months, when the dread summons came and he surren- 
dered to the only foe he could not conquer. 

" I am not afraid to die. 1 have always endeavored to do my 
duty. My only regret is for the friends I leave behind me?." 
These were his last articulate words. Solemn last words — 
full of meaning and of truth. 

" The tongues of dying men 
Enforce attention, like deep harmony." 

" I am not afraid to die." ' I have not been selfish. I have 
not lived for myself alone, or chiefly. I have tried to under- 
stand my relations and obligations to my God, my countfy, 
and my fellow men, and have endeavored to discharge them. 
I have fought a good fight. I have lived my life long in view 
of the solemnities of death and the responsibilities that come 
after. I have always been obedient to the dictates of con- 
science. I have never stifled nor disregarded this voice of 
God, ever whispering in my inmost soul. I know that God 
is merciful and just. I go " sustained and soothed by an 
unfaltering trust." But I know what this life is. What a 
serious, earnest thing it is. I am old and have experience. 
" I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and 
behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit." Here the wicked 
trouble, and the weary find no rest. Labor and pain, sickness 



14 

and sorrow, trials and temptations, are here the common lot. 
I regret to leave those that are dear to me in such a world as 
this.' 

Now that he is gone, his work all done, lying finished 
before us, what shall we say of the man, Zachary Taylor? 
What image of him have we left ? — what rank shall we assign 
him ? What was, and is, and is to be, his worth ? These are 
matters, at which, upon an occasion like the present, we can 
bestow but a passing glance. I think he was a great and true 
man — that such will be, if it is not now, the common senti. 
ment. The position and circumstances of his life were favor- 
able to the developement of a noble character. He sprung, as 
it were, from the ashes of the Revolution, and grew up amid 
its freshest memories and purest influences. Though a soldier 
by profession, but a small portion of his life was spent in the 
devastating and bloody scenes of war, and even these seem 
to have exerted none but a good influence upon him, for he 
learned to look upon war as a great calamity, and to temper 
it with all the mercy of which it is susceptible. His posi- 
tion was always one of high respectability and trust, requiring 
the constant exercise of self-control, forethought and sound judg- 
ment, and often the greatest self-possession, prudence, intre- 
pidity and skill. 

Discipline and order were first elements of his profession, 
which he rigidly, though mildly, enforced, beginning with 
himself. Most of his life was spent upon the frontier, far 
from the haunts of vice and pleasure, the marts of trade, and 
the arena of politics, all which destroy in the germ so much 
that is generous and noble, and engender so much that is mean 
and selfish, and insincere. He had much leisure for study 
and reflection, and he made wise use of it. He "gazed on 



15 

nature's naked loveliness,'" realized the God-like in it, and 
was taught to be earnest and true. 

That he was a great military man none will question. But 
I claim for him much more than this. Whatever opinion we 
may have of the late war with Mexico, in which his 
great military character was so vividly displayed to his 
astonished' and admiring countrymen, we must bear in 
mind that he was in no way responsible for it. He acted 
under the orders of his government. But not content with 
simply doing his duty, like a true soldier, in this respect, he 
did more ; he distinctly warned that government, when ordered 
to march the army under his command to the Rio Grande, 
what the consequences would almost inevitably be. That 
precipitate war was the means of bringing to the knowledge 
of the people his great qualities. This, it seems to me, was 
the good brought by an overruling providence out of that great 
evil. 

I claim for Zachary Taylor the possession, in large 
measure, of those qualities which constitute the truest and 
highest greatness, namely, moral greatness — magnanimity. 

It is said, no doubt truly, that he much studied and deeply 
venerated the character of Washington. That he made him 
his model. He has been likened to that great man. Though 
nature has formed but one Washington, I think Taylor, in 
many great qualities, more nearly resembled him than any 
other man this country has produced, and this expresses much 
of all I would or can say. 

It is difficult for me to present him to you as I believe he 
really was. I am not afraid of overdrawing the picture ; my 
conception of his character is nobler than I can present it in 
words, which have been so often, especially in this, our day, 
so misapplied, so emptily applied, to men of litde or inferior 



16 

worth, that they have lost much of their significance and 
force. Zachsivy Tsiylovwas an honest /nan. In the broadest, 
and noblest, and highest sense, he was an honest man. 
" Honesty, even by itself, though making many adversaries. 
Whom prudence might have sat aside, or charity have softened, 
Evermore will prosper at the last, and gain a man great honor." 

He was the soul of sincerity and truth. Sincerity was with 
him a high sentiment — a law of his life — God's recognized 
laAV in his heart. Truth was ever at the door of his lips, and 
he always gave it utterance. It came right from the heart — 
direct, simple, exact — needing " no flowers of speech " — never 
questioned. 

" He had a natural, wise sincerity," 

" A simple truthfulness; " 

" And, though himself not imacquaint with care " 

" Had in his heart wide room." 

He ruled his own spirit, the most difficult and highest of all 
attainments, as all know, or may know, from their own expe- 
rience. " He that ruleth his own spirit is greater than he 
that taketh a city." Whatever seemed to him right, what his 
clear conscience and sound judgment approved, that he did. 
He was always true to himself, and therefore, could " not be 
false to any man." His great firmness of purpose, unlike 
that of so many, Avas not alone or chiefly manifested in con- 
troling or resisting others, or external objects, but in regulating 
his own inward life and conduct, in subordinating his own 
affections and feelings to his convictions of right. It was not 
mere force of will, but this, combined with a high sense of 
duty. I know not among men any more perfect example of 
self-control. 

To these great qualities — as the outgrowth or allies of these 
— were added temperance, simplicity, kindness, benevolence, 
modesty, courage, self-possession, earnestness, and a high 
sense of justice and honor. 



17 

His intellectual, like his moral qualities, were of a high 
order. This could not be otherwise. With such affections 
and sentiments, his intellect must be clear and strong, his in- 
sight deep, direct, and true. He looked into the heart of the 
matter. His judgment, when made up and announced, was 
generally acquiesced in as the soundest and best. In few 
words, he was a man of great practical wisdom. Thoroughly- 
tried in many and great emergencies, widely differing in char- 
acter, and requiring different talents, he was found equal to 
them all. 

The uses of great men in this world are many fold and far- 
reaching. The contemplation of them, however imperfectly, 
is profitable in many ways. Their true worth cannot be 
measured^-their influence extends through all time. A deep 
thinker has said, " All things that we see standing accom- 
plished in the world are properly the outer material result, the 
practical realization and embodiment of Thoughts that dwelt 
in the Great Men sent into the world ; — the history of what 
man has accomplished, is at bottom the history of the Great 
Men who have worked here." The United States of Ameri- 
ca, our own free government and institutions — source of so 
many blessings — our glory and our boast — the best hope of 
men everywhere struggling against oppression and wrong — 
whence are they ? — the work of whose hands ? We name 
one, the Father of his Country, because of his pre-emmence in 
this work, but there were other giants here in those days. It 
will be well with us if we always remember and reverence 
these, and all like these who come after; but not well if we 
forget them. Not to recognize a great man is a fatal blind- 
ness. Not to remember him and his works and ways is a 
fatal forgetfulness — fatal to us, above all people — to us, unto 
whom much has been given, and of whom much is required. 



18 

I would the more impress these truths, upon this solemn oc- 
casion, because I think the due influence of these great and 
good is declining amongst us, to our own hurt. I fear we do 
not realize, as we ought to do, that wise guidance — the gui- 
dance of sincere, earnest, far-seeing men — can alone uphold and 
perpetuate these free institutions. That by such they were 
established, and by such they must be maintained. That we 
must find such to do it, at our peril ; must have, ourselves, the 
intelligence, and virtue, and wisdom to know them from all 
pretenders and set them over this business. 

Zachary Taylor has gone from among us, but he has left 
us his great example, — the example of a man who " always 

ENDEAVORED TO DO HIS DUTY." WllO " ASKED NO FAVOR, 

AND SHRUNK FROM NO RESPONSIBILITY." This may bc ours 
forever, may it be so ; may all self-seekers learn from him how 
much greater it is to serve than to rule. May we learn from 
him to put aside those who would rule over us, those who 
selfishly covet power for its own sake, and choose those whom 
glory seeks more than is sought of them ; those who under all 
circumstances, through all temptations, can and do govern 
themselves ; those who can labor and wait, even to the end. 
It was in this point of view that his example, while living, 
was greatest ; it was in this point of view it was most needed. 
The times called for such an example ; in the providence of 
God it came. In the providence of God, he who gave it is 
gone, but the light of his life is shining on us, mingling with 
that of the great and good who went before, and adding 
renewed lustre to that light-fountain in whose radiance 
liberty lives, and from before which kings and oppressors llee 
away. 



APPENDIX. 



On the receipt of the news, on Wednesday, the 10th day of July, the 
Mayor of Cincinnati called a meeting of the citizens at the Merchant's 
Exchange, at five o'clock that afternoon. 

The meeting was called to order by appointing Mayor Spencer, Pres- 
ident; James Iliff, 1st Vice President; N. Guilford, 2nd "Vice Presi- 
dent; and Samuel Cloon, Jr., Secretary. 

After some appropriate remarks from the Chairman as to the object 
and call of the meeting, Judge Coffin moved that a committee of thirty 
be appointed to make the necessary arrangements. 
After some debate the motion was carried. 

On motion of R. King, Esq., the Chairman appointed that committee. 
Judf^e Cotlin moved that this committee meet at the Merchant's 
Exchange on Thursday morning, at 9 o'clock, to make the necessary 
arrangements, and report at a subsequent meeting. 

The following persons were appointed to that committee : — 
C. D. COFFIN, CHARLES FOX, 

JAMES HALL, H. REHFUSS. 

A. N. RIDDLE, THOMAS McLEAN, 

JOHN H. GROESBECK, MILES GREENWOOD, 

BELLAMY STORRER, GEORGE W. HOLMES, 

ROBERT BUCHANAN, JOSIAH LAWRENCE. 

HENRY BRACKMAN, STANLEY MATHEWS, 

RUFUS KING, R. M. CORWINE, 

JAMES C. HALL, ARCHIBALD IRWIN, 

PATRICK COLLINS, STEPHEN MOLLITER, 

SAMUEL H.GOODIN, DAVID GRIFFEY, 

T. C. DAY, Wm. R. MORRIS, 

GEORGE GRAHAM, LEWIS BROADWELL, 

WASHINGTON McLEAN, E. R. CAMPBELL, 

CHARLES CIST, S. M. HAR F. 

At the meeting of citizens, held at the Merchant's Exchange, on 
Tuesday evening, 16th of July, to hear the report of the committee, 
Henry E. Spencer, Mayor of the city, was called to the chair, and 
Samuel Cloon, Jr., and C. S. Pomeroy, appointed Secretaries. 



20 

Judge Coffin, from the committee, made a report, setting forth the 
views of the committee on the subject ; which report being considered, 
the meeting adopted the following resolutions: 

1. Resolved, That in view of the critical condition of the health of the 
people of the city, and the heat of the weather, any general procession 
is inexpedient, 

2. Resolved, That Thursday, the first day of August, be set apart for 
public ceremonies. That the Mayor issue his proclamation, requesting 
all persons to abstain from business on that day, and that all public 
institutions, and places of public resort be closed. That the flags of the 
city and of the shipping in port be hoisted at half mast. That the bells 
of the churches and of the engine houses be tolled from live to six o'clock 
in the morning, and from seven to eight o'clock in the evening. 

3. Resolved, That appropriate religious services be had in all the 
churches of the city on the morning of that day, under tlie direction of 
the Pastor or Priest of each congregation, at such hour as they may 
severally deem best; this meeting, however, recommend 11 o'clock. 

4. Resolved, That an oration be delivered at Wesley Chapel in the 
evening : the services at the Chapel to commence at 8 o'clock precisely, 
and in the following order: — ■!. Appropriate instrumental music. — 
2. Prayer. 3. Singing of an original ode. 4. Oration. 5. Singing of 
an original hymn. 6. Benediction. 7. Instrumental music. 

The Chairman of the committee also announced that a series of resolu- 
tions had been prepared by Judge Hall, of the committee, that the same 
had been approved by the committee, and would now be presented for 
the consideration of the meeting. 

James H.\ll then presented the following preamble and resolutions: 

The citizens of Cincinnati, having heard, with profound sorrow, of the 
great public calamity which has befallen the American people, in the 
death of our venerable and distinguished Chief Magistrate, the great and 
greatly beloved Zachary Taylor, and having assembled to give a solemn, 
though faint expression of the lively sensibilities with which we, in 
common with the great mass of the people in the United States, regard 
this afilicting dispensation of Divine Providence, do hereby 

Resolve as follows : 

1. That, in the faithful and able discharge of the high office of Presi- 
dent of the United States, General Taylor has fully vindicated the par- 
tiality of his country, which selected him for a trust so solemn and so 
comprehensive — has filled his elevated station with eminent usefulness 
and dignity — and has added the reputation of illastrious patriotism to 
that of unsurpassed military skill, and unsullied private worth. 

2. That while it is our duty to bow in humble submission to the 
mysterious decree of Almighty Grod, which has removed from a sphere 



21 

of exalted honor and usefulness a great and good man, an eminent citi- 
zen, and an efficient Chief Magistrate, we cannot but deplore the irrepar- 
able bereavement which the country has suffered from his lamented 
decease — especially in the peculiar posture of our public affairs ; when 
the exercise of firmness, magnanimity, and public virtue, in high places, 
is imperatively demanded ; and when the possession of these qualities 
by the illustrious deceased had rallied strongly around him the hopes and 
confidence of the nation. 

3. That in the discharge of the duties of the Presidential Office, Gen- 
eral Taylor has ably and successfully followed out the example of the 
illustrious Washington in the admirable firmness, prudence of the high 
sense of national honor, with which he has conducted the intercourse of 
the government with foreign nations, rendering to them strict justice, 
and maintaining steadily the dignity of the American Eepublic ; while 
he has administered the domestic affairs of our country with a wise and 
just moderation, and with a sedulous regard to his own Constitutional 
position and duty, and to the rights, the interests, and the expressed 
will of the j^eople. 

4. That tlie long and faithful services of Zachary Taylor, his brilliant 
military career, his benevolence on the battle field, his moderation in 
victory, his unostentatious republican and Christian virtues', his excel- 
lent life, and his exemplary death, entitle his name to the highest honors 
of his country, and should cau.se his memory to be cherished with honor 
and affection by a grateful people. 

5. That we sympathize deeply and feelingly with the family of the 
illustrious and lamented deceased in their mournful bereavement, whicJi 
has taken from them one endeared to them by the ties of nature and 
affection, by the justness, manliness, and truth which sweetened to all 
around him the intercourse of domestic life ; and that, while we respect- 
fully tender our condolence, we trust that the affliction is softened to 
them by the reflection, that the course of his life in this world was so 
ordered as to win for him the approbation of the wise and good, — and 
he died in the possession of the highest human honors, — and that he has, 
as we have reason to believe, resigned an earthly sovereignty for a crown 
of glory in a more exalted state of existence. 

6. That the Mayor of the city be requested to transmit copies of these 
proceedings to the family of the deceased, the President of the United 
States, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives in Congress. 

Which were unanimously adopted. 
On motion 

Resolved, That the committee of thirty heretofore appointe'd be con- 
tinued as a general committee, with power to appoint sub-committees 



22 

from their own body, or from the citizens generally, to carry into effect 
the foregoing arrangements. 

Resolved, That the city papers be requested to publish these proceedings. 

Adjourned. 

H. E. SPENCER, Chairman. 

Samuel Cloon, Jr., > r, , . 
n « TJ^.,^„.J '> Secretaries. 

C S. rOMEEOY, \ 



THE OBSEQUIES. 



We have never known, in this city, on any similar occasion, so gen- 
eral a response to any public recomendation, as that which was made on 
the first of August to the proclamation of the Mayor, and the proceed- 
ings of a public meeting, recommending the people to abstain from their 
usual employments, to attend religious services, and in other wajs to 
manifest the sorrow they felt in consequence of the death of the late 
President of the United States, and show their respect for the memory 
of the illustrious soldier and good citizen. 

Minute guns were fired morning and evening, and half-hour guns 
throughout the day ; bells were tolled solemnly at intervals, from an early 
to a late hour ; stores, banking houses, insurance offices, and other places 
of business were closed all day long; the portico of the Burnet House, 
the front of Lee's splendid dry goods store, on west Fourth street, and 
other prominent buildings were most tastefully and appropriately draped 
in black clotli and muslin ; morning services were had in a number of 
the churches ; and a more than Sabbath stillness prevailed throughout the 
day, broken only at intervals by the deep sound of the cannon, the solemn 
tone of the bell, and the feet of the people from the country and neigh- 
boring towns, who liad come into the city to participate in the testimo- 
nial of respect. And all this without any special pains taken to have 
it so, and without the getting up awy pageant, either imposing or simple, 
for nothing of the sort was contemplated, either by the Mayor, the pub- 
lic meeting, or the Committee of arrangements. It was a spontaneous, 
voluntary tribute to the A'irtucs of the distinguished dead, and showed 
how all-pervading was the respect with which Zachaey Taylok, the suc- 
cessful soldier, the high civilian, the honest man, had inspired the breasts 
of our people. 

Late in the afternoon a number of companies of the third brigade 
Ohio Militia, and one or two Fire Companies, with a well-prepared 
funeral car, drawn by four white horses, formed in procession on west 
Ninth street, and proceeded to Wesley Chapel, where the evening servi- 
ces were held. A rain coming up just at the time when the procession 
formed and marched, prevented large numbers of citizens who were upon 
the ground from joining it. 



23 

At the Chapel, people began to pour in a full hour before the time for 
the commencement ot the ceremonies, and soon occupied all the seats 
but those reserved for the Military and Fire Companies. By 8 o'clock 
the church, the vestibule, and the broad steps leading to it were crowded, 
and the street in front presented one of the densest throngs we have 
ever seen in the city. 

The ceremonies opened with music by the United States Military 
Band from the Barracks at Newport, which was followed by a solemn 
and most appropriate prayer by the Rev. Dr. Rice, a voluntary from the 
choir, a march by the band, and the following ode, written for the occa- 
sion by Capt. G. W, Cutter, and admirably sung by the choir of the 
Ninth Street Baptist Church, under the direction of Professor Williams. 

ODE. — =• Oh, can it he that thou art gone?" 

Oh, can it be that thou art gone 

Wliom death so often spared. 
Where liostile banners o'er thee shone, 

And crashing thunder glared? 
WJiere southern skies at noon were black, 

And the earth beneath was red, 
And cannon shook thy fearful track 

Amidst the ghastly dead. 

[Ah, who shall soften freedom's woe, 

Or bid her tears depart, 
Wlien in the shroud lies still and low 

The idol of her heart? 
Wlien, drooping in her stately hall, 

Where thou hast fallen asleep. 
She puts aside the sable pall. 

O'er thy cold brow to weep.] 

[The trampling wliere battalions form, 

The cannon's opening roar. 
The gathering of the battle storm. 

Shall never rouse thee more. 
Yet ever when our stars shall flame 

Upon the front of war, 
A spell of hope and love, thy name. 

Shall be remembered there.] 

As sets the radiant orb of eve'n 
• With summer's hues o'ercast. 

As fell the Pleiad stars from heaven. 

Still beaming to the last; 
So thou, witliout a single stain. 

From earth hast passed away. 
Beneath thy virtue's cloudless train. 

Thy glory's solar ray. 

Farewell, farewell, beloved chief, 

Whose triumphs we have shared ; - 
Oh may it soothe a nation's grief. 

To know thou wert " prepared ;" 
That, true to all thy former years, 

Thy pure, unsullied mind 



•24 

Knew no regret, but for the tears 
Of those thou 'st left behind. 

[Farewell, the glory thou hast won, 

Shall never pass away, 
While glitter in the rising sun 

The towers of Monterey ; 
Till darkness and eternal night 

In cold oblivion frown. 
Where Buena Vista's mountain higlit. 

In dust has crumbled down.] 

John L. Miner Esq., the orator, then pronounced an oration upon the 
" Life and Services" of the great and good man — the late Chief Magis- 
trate of the Repuhlic. 

After this the following Lament, written by W. D. Gallagher, was 
sung by Mr. H. Tfiane Miller and chorus, ( accompanied by Mons. 
Felix Simon, and members of the Ninth Street Choir.) to the simple 
and tender melody of " The Grave of Bonaparte." 

LAMENT.— Fareicell to the hero. 

Farewell to the hero, whose name in our story 

Will live till the stars and the stiipes shall grow dim! 
I'^arewell to the patriot, shrouded in glory. 

Who fill'd up the measure of fame to its brim! 
lie fought well the Battle of Life, to its closing ; 

He won the hard victory, honored renown; 
Anrl now, where in death he is calmly reposing. 

The heart of a nation in sorrow bows down. 

Whatever of fame brightest sits on our Present, 

Whatever of honor illumines our Past, 
Lends a ray lo the beautiful, quick-growing crescent, 

Whose light even now o'er his memory is cast. 
And long shall men twine in one garland of glory 

The fields that he won; and fronr each shall a star 
Eternally shine on the page of our story. 

That traces the course of his banner of war. 

Farewell to the chief, who amid the dread rattle 

Of conflict, at all times the suppliant spared ! 
Farewell to the man, who endeavored in battle. 

To do his whole duty, and still be " prepared!"* 
'Tis manly to mourn him — 'tis human to weep him — 

And long years will pass ere our sorrow shall cease; 
For livingly green in our hearts we will keep him. 

Whose banner of war is now folded in peace. 

Rev. Mr. Miley then prononnced a benediction, when the auditory 
retired to the music of the United States band, and dispersed. 

*"I have endeavored to do my duty, — I am prepared." — Gen. Taylor's hying words. 



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